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A review by robyntothetee
Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
2.75
I have read almost all of McManus' books. Her series are good, but her stand-alones struggle a bit more, but are still good. This one just did not do it for me.
It was helpful to read the author's note at the end to realize that she struggled to pull this book together and keep the plot from unraveling because that made me understand why this book was such a struggle to get into. She struggled with it herself, but was probably on deadline and had to get it out there.
First, all of the characters were lame, except maybe Augustus and Liam. But even those two were kind of lame because she never really gave them enough depth. Liam was vindictive about his dad catfishing women but then seemed weak and lacking confidence in anything else. Augustus' character was dependent on Liam, so we didn't get enough depth with him outside of Liam.
Kat was a mess. There was not ever one moment in the book where I thought she was at all capable of pulling off the heist in her mom's stead. And there were moments where she absolutely thinks and acts like a thief and others where she is so naive and unthinking. It actually was kind of infuriating at times.
And Jaime being sick from basically jump was convenient. She had to be out of the way so that Kat could play a more prominent role. Jaime was just a character to prop up Kat when she was finally needed, and that felt lame.
I skimmed the last third of the book just trying to finish. And the thing is, I still am not quite sure who has the real necklace. Honestly. I can't remember that detail actually coming out, but I can't be bothered to go back in the book and find out. And unfortunately, you could see the plot twist at the very end basically from the beginning. It was just a matter of how the story gets to that point.
I will continue to read McManus' books because, overall, I like her writing style and stories. But this one missed the mark for me.
It was helpful to read the author's note at the end to realize that she struggled to pull this book together and keep the plot from unraveling because that made me understand why this book was such a struggle to get into. She struggled with it herself, but was probably on deadline and had to get it out there.
First, all of the characters were lame, except maybe Augustus and Liam. But even those two were kind of lame because she never really gave them enough depth. Liam was vindictive about his dad catfishing women but then seemed weak and lacking confidence in anything else. Augustus' character was dependent on Liam, so we didn't get enough depth with him outside of Liam.
Kat was a mess. There was not ever one moment in the book where I thought she was at all capable of pulling off the heist in her mom's stead. And there were moments where she absolutely thinks and acts like a thief and others where she is so naive and unthinking. It actually was kind of infuriating at times.
And Jaime being sick from basically jump was convenient. She had to be out of the way so that Kat could play a more prominent role. Jaime was just a character to prop up Kat when she was finally needed, and that felt lame.
I skimmed the last third of the book just trying to finish. And the thing is, I still am not quite sure who has the real necklace. Honestly. I can't remember that detail actually coming out, but I can't be bothered to go back in the book and find out. And unfortunately, you could see the plot twist at the very end basically from the beginning. It was just a matter of how the story gets to that point.
I will continue to read McManus' books because, overall, I like her writing style and stories. But this one missed the mark for me.